Pronounce Cecil

[hazelm]

I have a question for our British cousins.  A friend told me two things.  The first I think I knew.  But not the second.  Please tell the facts.

 

1.  The name Cecil is pronounced with a short e.    This I think I knew.

 

2.  Sometimes Cecil is spelled "Cycle" or "Cycel".   This I've never seen.  If it is true, how is it pronounced?

 

Thank you.

[exchemist]

I have a question for our British cousins.  A friend told me two things.  The first I think I knew.  But not the second.  Please tell the facts.

 

1.  The name Cecil is pronounced with a short e.    This I think I knew.

 

2.  Sometimes Cecil is spelled "Cycle" or "Cycel".   This I've never seen.  If it is true, how is it pronounced?

 

Thank you.

I have never heard of any alternative spellings for the man's name Cecil. In my experience it is usually mad Americans who mess about with the perfectly good English spellings of names  .

 

There is a female version Cecily or Cecile, from French, derived from Cecilia. I know two British Cecilias, one the vegan daughter of an old rowing friend and the other a lesbian girl who works in our local butcher's shop (?!). Both contract their names to Ceci, pronounced "sessy". St Cecilia is the patron saint of music, hence Handel's Ode etc. 

[hazelm]

I have never heard of any alternative spellings for the man's name Cecil. In my experience it is usually mad Americans who mess about with the perfectly good English spellings of names  .

 

There is a female version Cecily or Cecile, from French, derived from Cecilia. I know two British Cecilias, one the vegan daughter of an old rowing friend and the other a lesbian girl who works in our local butcher's shop (?!). Both contract their names to Ceci, pronounced "sessy". St Cecilia is the patron saint of music, hence Handel's Ode etc. 

Thank you.  In this case, it was a girl's name and I was wondering if it should have been Cecile or Cecelia or some such.  But,  no,  it is Mary Cecil. 

 

I'd better explain.  This was an older sister who died as an infant.  When they filled out birth and death certificates, one spelled it Cycel and the other spelled it Cycle.   Dad called her Mary Cecil (long e).  I've never seen how he wrote it but Uncle Tave spelled it Cecil and her tombstone says Mary Cecil.  That leaves us wondering if they meant Cecile, or Cecilia or were they giving her her father's middle name?

 

And therein lies the complications of Sir Winston's "two countries separated by a common language".    I quite agree with you.  "Only in America".  But, you see, we had to prove we were a separate nation.  So we drive on the right and wear boots. 

Edited May 3, 2019 by hazelm

[exchemist]

Thank you.  In this case, it was a girl's name and I was wondering if it should have been Cecile or Cecelia or some such.  But,  no,  it is Mary Cecil. 

 

I'd better explain.  This was an older sister who died as an infant.  When they filled out birth and death certificates, one spelled it Cycel and the other spelled it Cycle.   Dad called her Mary Cecil (long e).  I've never seen how he wrote it but Uncle Tave spelled it Cecil and her tombstone says Mary Cecil.  That leaves us wondering if they meant Cecile, or Cecilia or were they giving her her father's middle name?

 

And therein lies the complications of Sir Winston's "two countries separated by a common language".    I quite agree with you.  "Only in America".  But, you see, we had to prove we were a separate nation.  So we drive on the right and wear boots. 

The Continent also drives on the right - but French trains go on the left, strangely. 

[hazelm]

The Continent also drives on the right - but French trains go on the left, strangely. 

It is a human trait.  We like to be different.  Which is why styles keep changing.  Thank you again.  I just wondered if it was an English spelling.  Not.

[GAHD]

Some dialects would pronounce it "Sess el" or "sess isle" or "cee sil" from the original spelling...as for variant spelling I could see some low-brows "hooked on phonix" using those very same phonetics, Same way "La-a" is "Lah DASH AH" not "Lah ah" in certain flavors of ghetto.

[Amplituhedron]

“Low brow”? “Flavors of ghetto”?

 

African American vernacular English is a dialect — no better or worse than any other dialect, or which there are endless examples. Its historical roots are in southern American English, which is spoken primarily by white people.

 

[fahrquad]

The Continent also drives on the right - but French trains go on the left, strangely. 

 

Every country that was not a British colony drives on the right.  In countries like Jamaica or the Bahamas the cars mostly come through the US and have left hand drives which makes things awkward when driving on the left side of the road.  I had to keep leaning over to the passenger side to make sure I was not over the center line when a car was coming from the other direction.  This might partially account for the high accident rate, although I think the consumption of "over-proof" rum (63-75.5% ABV) might have something to do with it.  On the rare occasion we got a right hand drive car, the wife would keep going to the wrong door and wonder why I was not opening it for her, while I was patiently waiting at the correct door.

Edited May 23, 2019 by fahrquad

[exchemist]

Every country that was not a British colony drives on the right.  In countries like Jamaica or the Bahamas the cars mostly come through the US and have left hand drives which makes things awkward when driving on the left side of the road.  I had to keep leaning over to the passenger side to make sure I was not over the center line when a car was coming from the other direction.  This might partially account for the high accident rate, although I think the consumption of "over-proof" rum (63-75.5% ABV) might have something to do with it.  On the rare occasion we got a right hand drive car, the wife would keep going to the wrong door and wonder why I was not opening it for her, while I was patiently waiting at the correct door.

There is also Japan. And Thailand. 

[fahrquad]

I have a question for our British cousins.  A friend told me two things.  The first I think I knew.  But not the second.  Please tell the facts.

 

1.  The name Cecil is pronounced with a short e.    This I think I knew.

 

2.  Sometimes Cecil is spelled "Cycle" or "Cycel".   This I've never seen.  If it is true, how is it pronounced?

 

Thank you.

 

In my experience us Yanks pronounce it Sea-sal while Brits pronounce it SeSill.

[fahrquad]

There is also Japan. And Thailand. 

 

"...but Thailand survived as the only Southeast Asian state to avoid European colonial rule because of centralizing reforms enacted by King Chulalongkorn and because the French and the British decided it would be a neutral territory to avoid conflicts between their colonies."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand

[exchemist]

"...but Thailand survived as the only Southeast Asian state to avoid European colonial rule because of centralizing reforms enacted by King Chulalongkorn and because the French and the British decided it would be a neutral territory to avoid conflicts between their colonies."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand

So they could have gone either way, then.  Japan went left, too. I don't know why.  But there we are, lots of countries drive on the left and lots on the right. France is the only place I know where the trains and the cars obey opposite conventions, though.

[fahrquad]

Would you expect the French to be anything but contrarian? (see link)

 

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/bullo/very-bad-trip

[exchemist]

Would you expect the French to be anything but contrarian? (see link)

 

 

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/bullo/very-bad-trip

Actually I find most of these pretty normal  - and some are key to why life in France is envied by almost everyone.  The Germans, I am told, even have an expression "to live like a god in France" - probably why they kept on trying to invade it, until the EU made it available for nothing.  

 

But then my wife was French and we still have connections there. One they have missed is describing something very good or cool as "super chouette" which literally translates as "super owl". Don't ask......

 

As for the cock, that is the emblem of their sports teams. See here for rugby example:

Edited May 23, 2019 by exchemist

[hazelm]

Actually I find most of these pretty normal  - and some are key to why life in France is envied by almost everyone.  The Germans, I am told, even have an expression "to live like a god in France" - probably why they kept on trying to invade it, until the EU made it available for nothing.  

 

But then my wife was French and we still have connections there. One they have missed is describing something very good or cool as "super chouette" which literally translates as "super owl". Don't ask......

 

As for the cock, that is the emblem of their sports teams. See here for rugby example:

Americans used to send their children to France for "finishing school".  Think that was right after high school.  It was "the thing to do"  if you could afford it. 

 

Personally, France is the last place in Europe that I'd want to  visit.  Simple reason.  Much as I like languages and enjoy learning new ones,  I do not like French.  I do not like the sound of it nor the sound of French speaking English with a French accent. 

 

Don't ask.  Even I do not understand why French annoys me so.  Silly, really.  They say it is one of the Latin languages.  I'm missing somerthing.  It does not sound like Latin, Spanish or Italian to me.